Aussie Finch Forum

Beauty!!

One of my few missing finch species.

never saw them at the Gouldian count

cheers, Case

Jack I was about 10 metres away at most in some shots.

Craig not as far as Geelong for me It was in the Horsham area.

Kentucky I am not sure what grass it is but would also like to know.

Great shots. As finchman1 alludes to - in the first group of photos there is a huge difference between the black bar in the second and third photos. I don't think I've seen a captive bird with a bar as wide as the third photo.

It looks like people ignore other peoples posts and only look at the pics,the grass is a type of Natal grass. Craig

If this is the same one, it is a grass I have fed in the past for many years which seems to have gradually expanded its reaches across the country. It took ages to find out what it was called and I believe this is the one referred to. The link below has some good photo's of the grass.

I used to cut the heads when in season and freeze them. They were still attached to the stalks when if thawed them and as good as new

PERENIAL VELDT GRASS: Small loose red seeds hang from the top of a slender, reed like stem. Seems to grow mainly in sandy soils and, especially when covering a large area, appears as a reddish carpet from a distance. Native to South Africa, it seeds mainly mid to late spring and early summer. Small birds relish the seeds

http://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/347

Craig52 wrote:It looks like people ignore other peoples posts and only look at the pics,the grass is a type of Natal grass. Craig

Another look with glasses on.

In thought it said natural.

Nice job! Funny, I saw some of these beauties at a show this weekend & really thought about buying some..........but I'm getting a bit crowded for space

thanks for showing us the pics gomer.
how many individuals did you see/photograph?
well done on getting within 10m of them....all that stealth practice from up north.

If it is the veldt grass in Firetail's link, then it is common around Perth and is currently seeding.
This is one of the better grasses for freezing and the finches love it.

I doubt the pictures were taken in WA though

Cheers
Brett

firetail555 wrote:If this is the same one, it is a grass I have fed in the past for many years which seems to have gradually expanded its reaches across the country. It took ages to find out what it was called and I believe this is the one referred to. The link below has some good photo's of the grass.

I used to cut the heads when in season and freeze them. They were still attached to the stalks when if thawed them and as good as new

PERENIAL VELDT GRASS: Small loose red seeds hang from the top of a slender, reed like stem. Seems to grow mainly in sandy soils and, especially when covering a large area, appears as a reddish carpet from a distance. Native to South Africa, it seeds mainly mid to late spring and early summer. Small birds relish the seeds

http://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/347

Thanks for that David,around here it is known as red natal grass by all the birdo's.It's interesting how in some local areas where it grows that they name it and they stick to that name,maybe the name veldt grass becomes to confusing with all the other veldt grasses that are available around here. Cheers Craig